The Next Big Thing

At the moment, there is no commercial Imax theater in the Washington area, but that may change soon. The Smithsonian, which has three, is currently deciding whether Hollywood fare jibes with its educational mission. And Imax is in "advanced discussions" with a commercial exhibitor to open a D.C.-area Imax.

Regal Gallery Place has an auditorium designed to handle large-format films -- as do all of Regal's new multiplexes, says Neal Pinsker, a senior vice president of Regal Entertainment. He says the company has no specific plans to open an Imax screen in the D.C. area.

But 75 screens are slated to open elsewhere in the next few years -- including 25 in China -- toward the eventual goal of 1,000 locations worldwide, according to Imax.

This momentum has built over the last three years because of two acronyms: DMR and MPX. DMR, or digital remastering, is a quick, relatively cheap process that converts and enhances the image and sound quality of 35mm films for Imax exhibition. MPX, or multiplex, is a lower-cost Imax system designed for existing movie houses; the theater is retrofitted by bringing the screen forward and expanding it wall to wall and floor to ceiling and upgrading the sound system.

But despite that Starbucks analogy, Imax's Gelfond admits you aren't going to see an Imax on every corner. "You have to have a sort of zone where they'd succeed," he says. "So I don't see Imax replacing 35mm, but . . . I think Imax will become a more important part of a studio's release pattern."

So to see the candyman now, you have to take a day trip north to the Regal Imax in King of Prussia, Pa., or south to the Virginia Air & Space Center in Hampton.

The Imax projector at the Virginia Air & Space Center is the size of a lawn tractor -- and just as loud.

"Watch yourself, it's tight back here," says Bill Mingee, the center's Imax-certified projectionist. He shines a flashlight and then slips through a foot-long space between the back wall of the projection room and a spinning platter, which is currently spitting out film for "Fighter Pilot," a Boeing Imax production.

"This is 'Charlie.' " Mingee points to a platter six feet in diameter, where 166,000 frames of Imax film, wound up, look like a cross-section of a tree trunk. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is ready to be moved by forklift onto a platter for the sold-out 2:25 p.m. show, when this giant circle of film, quiet and brown and still, will become a 50-foot-by-70-foot swath of color.

Sounds like a big deal, but isn't that the nature of Imax -- to make as big a deal as possible?

The world's largest Imax screen is the 97-foot-by-117-foot Panasonic Theatre in Sydney, Australia. The Imax film frame area is three times that of the standard 70mm frame, and 10 times the 35mm frame. Hold a piece of wood in front of the 15,000-watt light beam from a larger Imax projector, and it would catch fire. Send the projector to the moon, and we could see the beam from the Earth with the naked eye.

"I have a hard time going to conventional movie houses after working all these years here," Mingee says as an F-15 Eagle roars on the screen just outside the projection room's glass window. "I think it's the best image possible."